


Everyday Hero

by johyongsunny



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, M/M, Minor Violence, Spider-Man Mark Lee, no underage content, photographer johnny
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:22:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27345019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/johyongsunny/pseuds/johyongsunny
Summary: Not for the first time in his life, Mark wished that the spider that had bit him had given him much faster self-healing powers so that he could stop spending his college fund on polysporin and bruise cream.
Relationships: Mark Lee/Suh Youngho | Johnny
Comments: 58
Kudos: 125





	1. [1]

Mark groans as he finally lowers his body onto his bed, trying his best to be quiet so as not to wake his aunt. He immediately experiences a shock of pain and hunches over, hugging his arm around his middle and feeling for any broken bones. After reaching the conclusion that he’ll only have some pretty brutal bruising appearing tomorrow, he shoves his mask into the box usually hidden under his bed and begins the task of peeling the rest of the skin tight suit from his skin.

It hadn’t been the worst night he’s had ever since he’d scrapped together the red and blue spandex suit, but it hadn’t been a silent night either. He’d supervised a young women on her trip home after noticing a creep following her, assisted a very flustered shop owner get his automated alarm system turned off after the man had set it off himself, and had finished the night breaking up a group of thugs attempting to rob an ATM. The last altercation being the reason behind the suspiciously crossbar shaped bruise on his side and the fist sized bruise located under his jaw. Apparently, a group of five grown men with weapons had been a bit much for him and not even his self-proclaimed ‘spidey senses’ could help him when attacks were coming from all angles.

Not for the first time in his life, Mark wishes that the spider that had bit him had given him much faster self-healing powers so that he could stop spending his college fund on polysporin and bruise cream. 

He briefly wonders if he could somehow finesse an arnica bruise cream sponsorship for Spider-Man organized by an anonymous third party.

Changing into some sweats to sleep in Mark really starts to feel the effects of all the physical strain he puts his body through every night. The whole ‘Spider-Man’ gig that he’s managed to keep up since his second year of high school wears on him mentally and physically a little more every single day. Mark remembers when he’d first been bitten by the small spider and had gone through the whole process of discovering his brand-new powers, or as Mark liked to think of it ‘his second puberty’. He’d once been so excited to pull the red mask on over his head and go out into the city and feel like he’s doing something that really matters. But lately with the common criminal acts becoming more severe every day and new ‘bad guys’ feeling the need to prove that they aren’t scared of the Spider-Man, Mark has truly begun to reach his limit. Not to mention the stress of hiding a secret identity from everyone he knows.

Mark glances at the clock and further pity’s himself when he counts the hours and knows he’ll get max four hours of sleep before he has to be up for his summer internship at the newspaper. Despite the urge to call in sick tomorrow, he dutifully sets his alarm and tries his hardest to relax and close his eyes because that’s what good guy Mark Lee and protector of society Spider-Man would do.

.

Mark is going to be late. He’d woken up on time and had showered and dressed himself with plenty of time to spare before he’d glanced at his reflection and remembered the significant bruising under his jaw. He’d then had to go through the extra process of locating where his aunt kept her concealer and how exactly he had to apply it to cover the bruise, which resulted in him missing his usual train. So yes, he was going to be late, and Mark really hates being late.

Running into the newspaper’s building Mark flinches when he already hears his boss J.J. yelling at someone from inside his office. Mark tries to keep his head down and scurry past to where the interns sit but doesn’t manage to escape before J.J. yells out a very distinctive ‘LEE!’

Mark’s head further sinks as he takes a step into his boss’ office, knowing that the confrontation is unavoidable.

When Marks goes to sit down, he realizes he isn’t the only poor unfortunate soul that’s been called to face J.J.’s wrath this morning. None other than the newspapers main location photographer, and recently promoted past intern status, Johnny Suh already sits in one of the faux leather seats and makes no move to acknowledge Mark’s presence.

Before Mark forces himself to stop staring at the boy he notices Johnny very uncharacteristically has his jaw clenched with his posture stiffened and Mark decides that Johnny Suh looks very unlike himself when he’s frowning. Despite the obvious tension within the room Mark forces himself to sink into the vacant seat under J.J.’s watchful eyes.

J.J. smiles when Mark puts his bag down and although Mark knows he’s trying to appear friendly, he really just looks more threatening than usual. “If it isn’t Mark Lee my new favourite upcoming photographer. I need a favour from you kid.”

Mark represses his urge to flinch at his use of the word ‘kid’.

Seemingly unaware of the tension in the room J.J. simply continues his tangent

“--I need you to do me the very simple task of photographing the Spider-Man and finding out who’s under the mask.”

_Super simple._

Using his peripherals Mark sees Johnny roll his eyes and Mark’s own eyes are immediately drawn to his lips as one side of Johnny’s mouth quirks up in a sarcastic smile.

“Alright J.J. get an underpaid intern to do your evil bidding, good one, I’ll see you later to approve my event shots from yesterday.”

And with that Johnny excuses himself from J.J.’s office and any further conversation by rising from the chair and elegantly walking out from behind where Mark is sitting.

_God he’s so cool_

“See Mark? Don’t turn out like Johnny, the kid takes a couple university classes and suddenly thinks he’s got morals and that he’s too good to snap a few pictures to make a completely honest living. Anyways that’s what I need you to do, it’s easy, see if he’ll cooperate and ask Johnny for spots the Spider-Man frequents. He’s been snapping pictures of the weirdo for a while now, so he’ll know what’s up, even if he won’t admit it right away.”

Mark ignores the weirdo comment and thinks back trying to remember if he ever noticed Johnny in the background of any of his outings as Spider-Man. He knows that it’s probably a good thing that he’s never noticed the boy while he’s been out in the suit because that would have seriously messed with Mark’s focus and his general mental stability. Johnny Suh was distracting enough when Mark was staring at him over his computer screen, he couldn’t imagine seeing him when he’s trying to fight crime.

Mark realizes he hasn’t said a word since stepping into J.J.’s office but even now, he has no idea wait to say that’s not ‘yeah easy except I can’t be on both sides of a lens J.J.’ While he’s desperately trying to think of an excuse or a denial or anything to say really, J.J.’s eyebrow starts to rise which shows on his face that he thinks Mark is being quite dense and probably lacks brain cells.

“Of course sir, I’ll try my best.”

_Frick._

Finally, J.J. smiles and loudly speaks, probably hoping that Johnny can hear:

“I always knew you’d grow into being the best photographer we’ve ever had. Now get outta my office kid.”

Mark stumbles out a ‘yes sir’ and quickly grabs his bag and hustles out of the door way less gracefully than Johnny had. He avoids making eye contact with the other photographer when he walks past his desk, feeling a little like he’s betrayed him without trying to.

Instead of dwelling on perhaps ruining any chance he had with the guy Mark begins the lengthy process of booting up the ancient intern computer.

.

He’s partway through editing the pictures he’d taken at the latest NYU alumni luncheon when a tall figure stands over him. Pushing his glasses up Mark sees none other than Johnny standing in front of the intern desk as if the whole area isn’t beneath him. He smiles reassuringly at Mark, perhaps seeing the panic on his face and Mark decides his smile is way nicer than J.J.’s and that’s even without the bias of having the biggest crush on Johnny in the whole stupid universe.

_Mark’s just glad that he’s not frowning anymore._

Back when Mark was just starting his internship at the newspaper months ago, Johnny had been the first face he’d met. The ~~gorgeous~~ college student had shown Mark where his unfortunate intern desk was, introduced him to a million different faces, and had even explained that the coffee from the breakroom always tasted bad and to bring your own no matter what. He’d finished off the tour with enthusiastically saying that Mark could go to Johnny for anything as he’d once been in Mark’s position and understood how much it could suck. And Mark liked to think that he actually meant it and that it wasn’t just a formality he fed to every new employee.

Since then Mark has desperately wanted to know anything he could about the other and had so far managed to learn that Johnny had started as a reporting intern before deciding photography was more his style and even going so far as to specialize in the area in university. He was a Chicago boy but never saw himself making the decision to leave New York and one time he’d even complimented Mark’s mittens that had little Spider-Man faces on them that Mark had bought himself for the _meme_.

The bottom line was Johnny was always polite, nice and was adored by practically everyone in the building, including Mark. In their current scenario Mark was worried that he’d finally see a dark side of the other but was shocked to see him smiling and not looking like he was about to scream and rant at Mark for failing to stand up to J.J. on his behalf.

“Hey Mark, I just wanted to chat a bit about what J.J. was talking about in his office if you have a sec?”

“Yeah no for sure, no worries man, chat away.”

_Mark pull yourself together._

“I know he asked you to like find out who the Spider-Man is but I’m sure you realize that’s kind of a shitty thing to do, and like honestly it’s best to just leave the guy alone right? Like I know it’s easy for me to say because I’ve already taken a bunch of pictures of the guy, but I made sure to always keep my distance and stay out of his way I swear. Cause really the last thing he needs is some punk trying to zoom in on his face when he’s making a difference you know?”

Mark was secretly pleased that Johnny seemed to be one of the people that supported the idea of the Spider-Man because as time went forward more and more people were seeing him as a vigilante that was doing more harm than good these days.

“I hear you man, I’m not going to like throw myself into like an active shootout or anything to get a shot of the Spider-Man, I mean I’m only an intern I’m barely making minimum wage here.”

Mark hated how easy it was to lie to Johnny. But Johnny laughed at his lame joke seemingly satisfied that he’d done his part in making sure the newspaper he worked for wasn’t going to ruin the Spider-Man’s life. As he moved to walk away Mark desperately tried to think of a way to keep Johnny looking at him, and blurted his words without thinking.

“Uh J.J. said that you could help me set up for Spider-Man shots, just so I can like take a few from a distance of course! Just so J.J. thinks that I’m like working really hard to reveal some secrets…. if that makes sense.”

Johnny (thankfully) continued to smile and nodded his head at Mark,

“Sure, no problem Markie. There’s that huge parade on Saturday. Best case scenario we get some sweet shots of some overpriced floats, worst case scenario some lowlife uses the publicity of the parade to cause a ruckus and we get some overhead shots of the good guy.”

_Markie?_

“Sounds perfect.” Internally hating himself for the dreamy wishful tone of his voice, Mark managed to exchange numbers with Johnny (something he had previously had an elaborate five-month plan for) and didn’t embarrass himself any further, as far as he could tell.

As Johnny walked away Mark couldn’t resist propping his chin on his hand and staring at the other’s back as he exited, quickly remembering the huge bruise and just how much it hurt when it was touched. It isn’t until Johnny is walking back to his much nicer desk with much nicer lighting, that Mark realizes the main problem with going Spider-Man hunting with the man of his dreams Johnny Suh.

Because no matter how hard he tried Mark still couldn’t appear on both sides of a camera, and he couldn’t very well meet Johnny and reveal why the Spider-Man will never appear when Johnny’s standing beside Mark.


	2. [2]

Mark had accepted that he was simply the kind of person that was destined to be late to things. After confirming through carefully drafted text messages that he had double-checked, deleted and rewritten over and over again; him and Johnny had agreed on a time and a meeting place for their little parade/work meeting. Now Mark r _eally_ didn’t want to be late, but he’d changed outfits several times when he had ended up second guessing if the white polo shirt he had picked out the night before made him look too much like a child and not enough like an 18-year old about to enter university in the fall. And it wasn’t until he had stared at himself for an extended period of time in the mirror and scrapping any last minute outfit changes, that he had finally left his apartment complex. Only to quickly run back in to grab his backpack that had the Spider-Man suit and essentials in it, just in case of an emergency of course.

Mark knew that Johnny had been joking when he had said a huge parade on a busy New York street would be an ideal event for some evil freak of nature to crash, but Mark also knew that the statement held quite a bit of truth to it. The villains and criminals that Mark had been forced to interact with over the years often revelled in the spectacles and mass panic they could cause alongside their destruction.

Now Mark didn’t consider himself an overly religious person, but he had prayed to every god and deity he could think of to please let him remain as regular Mark Lee all day… or at least until him and Johnny had naturally parted ways.

By the time Mark was sprinting up from the subway tunnel he was starting to feel his heart race which was a clear indicator to just how long he had been running in a desperate attempt to be on time. Ever since the spider bite Mark only grew physically tired after extreme activity, which was usually only after Spider-Man fights or that one time he had sprinted several blocks in order to not be late to the newspaper. There was also the possibility that his increased heart rate was a direct result of his body subconsciously knowing that he was about to spend an entire afternoon alone with Johnny, but Mark tried to push that pesky thought out of his brain.

.

Arriving at he park, it was easy to spot Johnny as he stood slightly to the side of the walkway. The man had his camera hanging around his neck as if it was made to fit there, and both of his hands were tightly wrapped around a take-out coffee cup. Frankly speaking, Johnny was standing tall with his back to the sun looking like every dream and self-indulgent fantasy Mark had ever allowed his brain to think up. His panic and anxiety began to leave his system and he was suddenly giddy at the idea of spending the entire day with Johnny and resisted the sudden urge he had to take his own second hand camera and raise it to snap a picture of the other so that he could remember this feeling forever.

Johnny glanced in the direction Mark was coming from and smiled when he noticed Mark, quickly raising his arm to wave as Mark bounded up to him.

“Hey Markie! You ready to take pictures of some massive inflated cartoon characters today?”

Ignoring just how quickly his face flushed in response to the nickname, Mark tried his hardest to shape his face into a confident, easygoing expression.

“I’m so ready dude!”

_Dude? Mark Lee you absolute DISASTER._

“Great! I grabbed you a coffee just in case, I didn’t know how you like your order, so I stocked up on the little sugar and cream packets from the shop counter.”  
  


Mark can’t stop himself from absolutely beaming at Johnny and gladly accepting the coffee and sugar packets.

The crowd around them began to grow and come to life as families gathered, running to try and find the best vantage point to watch the parade. Mark wasn’t exactly a rookie at photography, but he hung on every tip and piece of advice that Johnny decided to share with him about lighting and angles as they navigated through the crowd to find their own spot.

Truthfully, Mark had agonized and obsessed over what conversations to start with Johnny and how to avoid any awkward silences. Yet, the conversation between them flowed easily, and Mark even found himself relaxing quickly and really allowing himself to enjoy the morning. As the parade began to inch through the streets in front of them it was easy to talk to Johnny as If they had been close for years. Johnny asked him about how he felt going into university in a few months (terrified) how he had gotten into photography as a hobby (his uncle) and why he had chosen to stay at home for school (his aunt/ _definitely not his Spider-Man gig_ ). Johnny even teased Mark about how smart he must be and how well he must have done in school to get accepted into NYU’s biomolecular engineering program. Mark was sure he couldn’t even hide just how much the other’s praise meant to him.

Johnny promised to invite him to dorm parties and even offered that Mark could sleep over whenever if he ever felt like he couldn’t make the train ride back to his aunt’s. Mentioning his aunt had inevitably brought up the obvious question about his lack of parents and the loss of his uncle. He usually avoided speaking about his Uncle Ben as much as possible as Mark knew he had never allowed himself to fully recover from his death, yet he found himself running his mouth to Johnny telling him about his uncle showing up to his robotic competitions even if he never understood the science behind it and their tradition of Saturday morning brunches.

Johnny never faltered or gave any indicated that he pitied Mark, which Mark himself was grateful for. All he did was nod and offer his own stories of his mom back in Chicago who had framed his first published photo even though it was just a group photo at an event that was placed in his small town’s local newspaper on page 12.

It was so easy to get wrapped up in Johnny’s presence that he almost forgot the real purpose of their get together and had to keep reminding himself to raise his camera to snap a few pictures of the floats crawling by them. And if Mark took advantage of Johnny’s own dedication to his photography, to take a few sneaky snaps of Johnny’s profile with his camera raised to his eye, then that was another one of Mark’s secrets.

It was simply a fact that Mark was having one of the best days he had had in a long time and It was so easy for him to pretend that he was a normal 18 year old enjoying a day with his coworker that he was definitely harboring a crush on. In a normal scenario, his biggest concern would be how to ask the other out and not whether or not he could bare the psychological torture of having to hide a superhero alter-ego from someone he cared about so much. It was so easy to get lost in Johnny’s laidback personality, his willingness to laugh at Mark’s attempts at jokes, and how obvious his love for photography was that it was almost inevitable that something bad would have to happen.

Mark had found himself looking up at Johnny and debating if he could get away with taking a step closer into Johnny’s space without the other noticing, when he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head.

Quickly snapping his head around Mark watched as people began running up from the subway tunnel that was slightly in the distance. Knowing he only had seconds to act Mark glanced at the forgotten coffee in his hand and quickly dumped it over himself. Hearing the splash, Johnny put his camera down and looked at Mark with his eyebrows curved into a frown as he opened his mouth, probably to ask if he was okay. But Mark beat him to it.

“Oh my god I am so clumsy hahaha I’m just going to go find… a bathroom! To clean up in! Don’t wait up man!”

Without another glance back at the other, Mark was sprinting through the crowd trying to find a secure place for him to suit-up. As he made his way through the park to run across the street the ground close to the subway entrance exploded knocking several people down and creating more of a panic amongst the crowd of bystanders. Mark allowed himself a quick look back and was met with a glimpse of mechanical arms larger than himself. Mark groaned; of course It would be Doc Oc ruining his perfect day.

.

After a quick costume change Mark left his backpack hidden behind a dumpster and ran back into the chaos happening on the street. He quickly picked up someone that had fallen while running and helped them back up on their feet into the waiting arms of their friend.

“Oh thank god Spider-Man is here!”

The news of his arrival was quickly relayed through the crowd and he winced knowing there would be no element of surprise for this particular fight. Doc Oc had used his mechanical arms to easily pass through the crowd and had disappeared into an unmarked office building that Mark wasn’t familiar with.

Without hesitating for a second longer, Mark leapt into action using a web to pull himself into the sky. He followed the general line of destruction before jumping through the massive hole in the skyrise the doctor had left behind.

He passed by several hanging lights and smashed computer screens before finally seeing someone in a lab coat. He helped the woman to her feet, and she grabbed at Mark’s suit.

“You have to stop him Spider-Man he’s going to take it!”

Before Mark could ask any questions there was a loud crash from inside the building as Doc Oc walked out on his mechanical arms. He grinned when he saw Mark and raised his human arms in an obvious taunt for Mark to come at him. Mark quickly took note of the bag being held high above his head courtesy of one of the mechanical arms and quickly began his attack.

Although the Doc was physically just a man, his extra arms that Mark suspected had been fused to his body in a freak science experiment gone wrong, were superior than his spider powers in every way. Based on experience from fighting with the doctor before, the arms tore through his webs easily and could pack a punch when they managed to hit him. Mark knew the doctor’s must vulnerable area was his human body and he attempted to launch out and subdue it as quickly as possible.

Running at Doc he dodged several swoops from the arms and formed a web in an attempt to grab the unmarked bag. One of the arms blocked his web and before Mark could jump, in an attempt to grab the bag on his own one of the other arms swung around hitting him directly in the torso and flinging him across the room. He flew through several desks and office computers before landing in a heap against a wall. Mark flinched at the pain travelling through his body, but knew that it wasn’t anything that he couldn’t handle.

Quickly jumping to his feet, he used his webs to grab one of the overturned office desks and flung it at the quickly escaping Doc. Truthfully, it was unlike the doctor to not look for a fight against him. Mark knew the man got some sort of sick satisfaction at fighting the Spider-Man and proving to himself that he was the better freak of nature. Mark knew if the man wasn’t looking for bragging rights that the contents of the bag that he had stolen must have been awfully important.

The flying desk was blocked by a mechanical arm and the arm faced Mark challenging him to try anything else. Mark knew he was quickly losing any footing he had in this battle and tried to catch up to the villain before he escaped. Doc Oc had already stepped out of the same hole Mark had entered through and was using his arms to quickly descale the side of the building. Mark jumped out of the broken building and using several webs he managed to land a kick on the Doc’s human shoulder, letting himself feel pride on the pained yell the man let out, before being forced to retreat as a mechanical arm blocked his attempt to grab the bag. Mark swung himself around to perch on a smaller building’s peak and he watched as police that had gathered on the ground attempted to block the subways and the Doc’s subsequent escape plan. Knowing that he was momentarily trapped in the sky the Doc hesitated still hanging from the side of the building and Mark watched as he looked in all directions trying to find a backup escape plan.

Creeping closer to the edge of the building’s roof and trying to plan his next move Mark made sure to take a quick glance down at the running and screaming masses below them trying to make sure there were no lost children, abandoned puppies, or confused seniors that might find themselves in the crossfires of the fight happening in the sky. Thankfully, Mark observed multiple police officers trying to stay calm and escort people as far away from the block and park as possible. As he shot out a web and prepared to loop around the skyscraper and face the Doc once again his eyes saw a glimpse of the familiar orange sweater from this morning and his head snapped back at lightning speed.

_Johnny?_

The already tall photographer was stood on a park bench where he was scanning and towering over the panicked crowd. He had both hands cupped around his mouth and appeared to be yelling something. Without realizing it, Mark shut down several of the thoughts his enhanced senses were following and let them all zone in on Johnny’s voice.

“MARK!”

Johnny was looking for _him_.

Johnny was standing approximately 10 metres from the spot of earth where a man with four mechanical super arms had erupted and the guy was worried about where Mark was.

Mark desperately wanted to yell from where he was flying through the sky and tell him that he was fine, Mark was fine, and he _really_ needed Johnny to get to safety along with everybody else.

His senses flared in his head and Mark reacted as quickly as he could to the 2009 Honda Civic flying through the air that had been thrown in his direction. Mark’s body erupted in pain where the fender of the car caught his left leg and he hurriedly attempted to pull himself higher in the air in an attempt to gain the high ground on Doc.

Attempting to approach the villain to subdue him he dodged several more vehicles and building materials being flung in his direction before being decidedly knocked out of the air when he had gotten too close and two of the mechanical arms had lunged at him from two varying angles. Mark frantically flew several webs up in the air in an attempt to latch on to something, but he only found empty air as he crashed onto the roof of a police car. Mark distantly heard sirens, screaming, and police officers yelling about perimeters. He heard several gunshots and curses from the officers below and a quiet “you okay kid?’ before he snapped his eyes open and saw the doc sweep an entire row of police officers off their feet as if they were nothing but paper. Mark attempted to get his bearings together and sit up, but he was immediately met with dizziness as his eyes forced themselves to close. The final thing they focused on being the doc blocking gunshots with his arms and escaping down the subway tunnel he had come from.

.

Mark woke up in a panic as he forced himself onto his feet and frantically felt at his face to make sure his mask was still in place. Someone had moved him off the top of the police car and had gotten him onto the ground. Looking around at his surroundings Mark saw several police officers looking at him with wide eyes and their arms up in a silent ‘we come in peace’ gesture. He also took note of the two paramedics holding ice packs and oxygen tanks.

“Woah! Woah easy there kid! We just want to help you!”

Mark couldn’t contain the embarrassment that went through his body at the idea of the Spider-Man being so helpless he needed paramedics and normal police officers to look after him. He quickly checked his wrists finding no pain or damage in that particular area and shot a web out to pull himself above the crowd. Without looking back Mark travelled above the crowds, witnessing the several injured bystanders being treated near ambulances, the broken debris all over the street and the broken parade floats left behind. He knew he was flushed red under his mask as he felt embarrassment and shame pass through himself. All of this carnage and chaos had happened because Mark hadn’t been good enough. It was _his_ fault.

Mark landed back on his feet ungracefully after dismounting from his webs. He quickly ran into the alley that he had left his backpack in and hid himself behind the dumpster. Curled up in a ball, sitting on the floor of an alley, Mark Lee once again let himself enter another one of his infamous pity parties. Truthfully Mark always tried his best to stay positive, but his entire body ached, he was sitting next to garbage, he’d lost his fight as Spider-Man against a man that calls himself Mark’s nemesis and on top of everything he’d ruined his day with Johnny.

He wondered how long the other had stood on the park bench before he’d given up on finding Mark and had begun to walk home. Reminding himself of his unfortunate leg injury Mark began the process of trying to find any broken bones, a process he’d taught himself through watching a 3-minute youtube video and decided he couldn’t reach a final conclusion on whether or not his fibula was actually okay.

With his spider gifted superpowers he’d heal from a broken limb a lot faster than most people but a broken bone would still put him out of service for at least 5 days and if the bone was as shattered as it felt then he really should put Spider-Man on a two week long vacation.

Mark knew he should make an attempt to contact the higher ups in the police force and discuss what exactly Doc Oc wanted from that particular officetel and where he might strike next but all he really wanted to do was go home and cry, and maybe eat some homemade soup if he could convince his Aunt to make it.

Thinking about his Aunt really brought the self-loathing back in full force and Mark really was going to cry which would be extremely uncomfortable in his mask. Glancing at the front of the alleyway to make sure he was in the clear to de-spider-man himself he found himself make direct eye contact with;

_Johnny._

The other looked extremely uncomfortable as he glanced over his shoulder and moved his gaze everywhere around the alley before finally settling back on ~~Mark~~ Spider-Man.

Mark took a second to try and imagine what it would be like to stumble across a superhero curled up into a ball in a dirty alley and decided he’d probably avoid eye contact and keep walking.

Johnny cleared his throat before stuttering out a simple, “Uhm… are you okay man?”

With that Mark snapped into action, ignoring the flaring pain in his leg. Quickly getting to his feet and using the much deeper, hopefully unidentifiable “superhero voice” that he definitely did not practice in front of his bathroom mirror for hours on end.

“Yes of course! I was just… resting! Thank you for your concern, I’ll be going now!”

“Wait!”

Johnny’s voice was loud enough to make him halt his movements and when Mark looked back he saw Johnny’s face looking shocked as if he had even surprised himself with his outburst. Mark watched as Johnny’s hands tightened around his camera as if he was fighting his natural reporting photographer urges to snap an extreme close up shot of the Spider-Man.

“I uh.. you did a good job today with the whole crime fighting thing. I know it can’t be easy.”

Out of all the things that Mark expected him to say that was **definitely** not one of them.

When he was in the suit people asked him for pictures, autographs, and if he could hang around to say hi to their nephew on facetime. He rarely stuck around to have actual conversations with anyone and had never been told that he’d done a good job. Especially when he considered today a huge failure on Spider-Man’s resume.

Mark was afraid that if he spoke Johnny would be able to hear the tears caught in his throat, so he gave the other a nod and then cast a web from his wrist removing himself from any further conversation.

_Mark hoped he looked cool._

From atop the restaurant that was directly across the street from his alley he watched Johnny give his head a shake and then walk away placing his phone at his ear.

When Mark declared the area clear he dropped back to his hiding spot and quickly pulled the suit off before stuffing it into his bag. Swinging his backpack over his shoulder he limped his way towards the subway tunnel without another thought.

.

Mark’s Aunt looked pale as she observed all of the cuts and the very obvious limp that he was sporting. He lied between his teeth claiming that he’d gotten involved in a stampede when the panic at the parade occurred and that he swore he was fine, and absolutely did not need to go to the hospital, and that he’d be as good as new after sleeping for twelve hours.

When his aunt finally released him from her scrutiny, he pushed open the door to his bedroom and began the process of trying to find his phone that had died sometime during his Spider-Man fight. Finding it at the very bottom of his backpack he finally plugged his phone into the charger beside his bed and waited for the screen to come to life. As the phone began the revival process Mark watched as the notifications started flooding in. He had 27 missed calls from Johnny and an even higher number of text messages asking where he was, if he had gotten home safe, and could Mark **please** text Johnny back when he saw the messages because he was really starting to freak out.

It was a testament to just how tired Mark felt when he didn’t even have the energy to try and read between the lines of Johnny’s messages and just chalked it up to concern for a fellow co-worker. He managed to type out a simple;

**“yeah sorry phone died, am home now”**

Before rolling over in his bed and letting his eyes finally close.

Attempting to shut down all the thoughts running through his head in order to sleep, he found that he couldn't avoid the one thing his brain kept telling himself over and over again.

And it was that Mark simply couldn’t afford to have distractions. He couldn’t afford to have Johnny.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this took forever..
> 
> I really struggled with writing this and to be honest I only finished this because my power went out for several hours and I had nothing to do except try and write this out!
> 
> I really hope that people that were waiting for this found it okay! Thank you so much to those of you that commented and supported this it really meant the world to me!!
> 
> [find me on twitter](https://twitter.com/johyongsunny)


	3. [3]

When Mark wakes up to the annoying shrill of his alarm, he seriously considers calling in sick to the newspaper. But then he spares a thought about the innocent ‘ ** _see you tomorrow markie_** ’ text sitting unanswered on his phone from Johnny from last night and decides that’s enough motivation to pull himself out of bed and ignore the physical pain in his body.

There’s an evil part of Mark’s brain that is still stuck on the humiliation from yesterday and his own stupidity for being so distracted while in the sky. It’s the same part of his brain that is screaming at him to ghost Johnny, run away and never show up to the newspaper ever again, and change his phone number just in case, so that absolutely no one can contact him.

Despite his anxieties, Mark tries to tell himself that he is fully capable of being a mature grown-up that is completely in control of his feelings and can stomach keeping Johnny at a distance as a friendly co-worker that he has pleasant conversations with every once in a while.

As Mark pulls his socks on, he pretends the sharp pain in his chest is from yesterday’s altercation and not something stupid like his heart breaking, because that is absolutely _not_ what’s happening. He distantly hears his aunt getting ready for her own workday and quickly grabs his glasses from his bedside table. He hasn’t needed them ever since the spider bite, but he knows they were expensive, and he doesn’t have the heart to tell his aunt they were no longer needed.

There’s a light knock at his door before it slowly opens revealing his aunt’s concerned face.

“Hey kiddo, are you sure you’re okay to go in today? Yesterday must have been crazy for you.”

He lets his aunt walk into his room and bring her hands up to his face telling himself it’s for her benefit and not his own touch starved longing. She scrutinizes his injuries and gently turns his face from side to side.

“Although the cuts look way better than I thought they did last night.”

_Mark hates lying to her._

He leans back from her touch and attempts to nonchalantly get to his feet ignoring the ache in his leg.

“They probably look better cause I cleaned them all out before I went to bed.”

The lies come so easy now and although he feels the guilt each one carries at least his excuse gets her to stop examining his face so closely. He grabs his bag and turns back to give her a wave before leaving their apartment. If he takes a moment to lean against the door and blink a few tears from his eyes that’s just between him and the outdated apartment complex carpeting.

.

If Mark had to choose the biggest drawback to his spider powers, he would easily pick the extreme sensitivity that he carries with him wherever he goes. Hearing echoes of every conversation being spoken and experiencing a flare of power in his head whenever anyone comes close to bumping into him on the subway can be somewhat exhausting.

In an attempt to block out all of the excess background noise, he puts his earbuds in and turns his music up loud enough that it can probably be heard through his headphones, if the way the older woman glares at him when he sits on the subway is any indication.

He closes his eyes long enough to almost fall asleep before he’s pulled back to consciousness by the automated subway voice declaring his stop. He carefully pulls himself to his feet when the subway slows to a stop and holds his backpack strap tighter as he attempts to navigate the typical New York crowd. When he exits the tunnel, his eyes are instantly overwhelmed by the brightness of the sun and he ignores the headache already forming behind his brows.

_Maybe he hit his head a little harder than he thought yesterday._

Mark’s a block away from the newspaper’s building when a flash of red and blue makes him pause. He steps to the side of the sidewalk stopping in front of the newsstand that caught his eye. A quick glance reveals that almost every single paper in the city has Spider-Man and his subsequent failure from yesterday featured on their front page. Suddenly all of the embarrassment and shame Mark had spent all morning trying to supress and hide from comes back in full force. He can’t ignore the way his eyes well up with tears and how his hand shakes as he reaches out to the paper displaying his employer’s trademark ‘The Daily Bugle’ along the top.

**‘Spider-Man Wasting Our Time?’**

The headline alone is enough to have the first traces of tears spilling down his cheeks and Mark wipes at them quickly and angrily as he unfolds the paper to see the full front page.

Right below the headline is a massive picture of the scene from yesterday. The unmistakable red and blue Spider-Man figure sprawled out on top of the police car. His head is lolled to the side and Mark knows it must have been taken during the brief moment he was unconscious. Although he’s the obvious focus of the photograph you can still see smoke and fire in the background alongside a ruined parade float.

Mark honestly has to give the photographer credit. The overall angle and framing of the photograph is near perfection and he knows J.J. must have been overjoyed when it came across his desk.

But that doesn’t make the content of the photo hurt any less. He stares at the picture wishing he could somehow make it all go away and at this point he’s completely lost control of his tears as they start to land on the paper one after the other.

Pinpointing the photographer responsible is an easy conclusion for his brain to make when logic forces him to quickly connect the dots. He only has to ask himself which photographer from The Bugle aside from himself was present on the scene yesterday.

_Johnny._

Maybe that’s why everything that he’s feeling hurts that much more. He tries to picture Johnny pausing on his useless search for Mark. Stopping just long enough to raise his camera and take the stupid photo.

It hurts.

There’s no denying the heavy feeling of betrayal taking over his senses. A small part of Mark’s rational knows that it isn’t fair to hold Johnny accountable for anything Spider-Man related when there’s obviously no way for him to know that betraying Spider-Man means he betrays Mark as well.

“Hey! You want that newspaper you gotta buy it kid!”

The vendor’s voice startles Mark out of his thoughts and he sheepishly reaches into his backpack to grab some change. It’s not like he can really hand the paper back with tear stains running the ink on the first page. 

When the paper is officially his to own Mark folds it up under his arm and forces himself to continue his walk to the office. He had previously been motivated to walk into work by the thought of seeing Johnny and using the other’s smile to erase some of the pain from yesterday. Now, he walks to work seething and ready for a fight.

.

When Mark finally makes his way into the office the work morning is already in full effect with majority of people already settled into their offices or desk cubicles. His eyes immediately lock onto Johnny, as they always do when he walks into the office, and the other is already hunched over his computer typing away.

He ignores the few greetings tossed his way and stomps into the office. The paper in Mark’s hands has gotten crumpled from having it clutched so tightly in his hands but he slams it on the desk in front of him anyways.

The first time he tries to speak his words get caught and he angrily clears his throat before finally spitting out his sentence.

“Did you take it?!”

Johnny has his coffee half raised to his face and is staring at Mark with his mouth hanging slightly open. Under any other scenario Mark would probably find his expression endearing but he tells himself he can’t get distracted from the matter at hand.

His hesitation and clearly confused face only serve to make Mark angrier.

“The picture Johnny! Did you take the picture?”

Johnny’s eyes drift from Mark’s face down to the still crumpled paper and Mark observes as Johnny’s face finally shows that he understands.

“What? Of course, I didn’t take that photo! It was one of the older guys. Anyways how could I have even had time to take photos when I was too busy running around looking for you?! After you disappeared off the face of the earth?!”

The tone of Johnny’s voice is frantic and at the end it tilts up in a somewhat aggressive tone, indicating to Mark that maybe he isn’t fully forgiven for abandoning Johnny in the middle of an active crime scene.

Mark’s anger deflates as quickly as it had shown up and the tone of Johnny’s voice as he defends himself immediately makes him feel somewhat chastised. He scrubs his hand over his face and gathers the courage to face Johnny again.

“I’m sorry. Sorry for the yelling and the whole disappearing and not answering my phone thing.”

Mark can feel his cheeks burning and almost convinces himself that his blush isn’t noticeable before he watches Johnny’s eyes drift down to the right side of his face. His posture that was defensive and hunched relaxes and he leans back in his desk chair finally placing his coffee safely on his desk. When he smiles up at Mark he looks like the relaxed Johnny Mark is used to seeing and it helps relax some of his own anxieties. Johnny leans further back in his chair and puts both hands up in the air in a gesture of peace.

“Alright. No hard feelings Markie. But you can make it up to me by buying me lunch later today.”

Mark is too busy thinking about how Johnny must really use every muscle in his face to smile and doesn’t get the chance to respond. The other takes his silence as an agreement and stands from his desk to head to his morning meeting, sparing a brief touch onto Mark’s shoulder before walking past.

.

When Mark finally makes it to the safety of his own cubicle he slouches until his forehead meets the desk and tries to calm himself down. In the past 48 hours he has definitely experienced more emotions and whiplash feelings than probably deemed safe for an average 18-year-old boy. After all he can still feel the blush warming his face and how his heart races but he no longer knows if it’s from his embarrassment from yesterday, his anger from this morning, or the fluffy feeling in his chest from maybe, indirectly being asked out on a lunch date by Johnny.

He tries to take several deep breaths and even does his best to remember everything his aunt has ever taught him about meditation over the years. He answers the morning email from J.J. admitting he doesn’t have any photos to submit today and promises that he’ll work harder tomorrow. Everything is fine he tells himself.

He can do this.

.

He can’t do this.

Realistically speaking, Mark has faced grown men in bird costumes, a massive mutated crocodile human hybrid, a super genius in a green costume and even a man that could bend sand particles to his will. But he doesn’t think he’s ever been as nervous as he currently is, sitting across from overall boy-next-door, Johnny Suh in a typical locally owned sandwich shop.

Mark had attempted to build up so much confidence while spending time with Johnny yesterday, but today with his pride still heavily wounded from yesterday’s activities he feels like an entirely different Mark Lee. A Mark Lee that is anxious and insecure before he is anything else.

If Mark has picked up any everyday applicable life skills throughout his Spider-Man campaign it was that he has gotten increasingly good at hiding how he is really feeling. But Johnny just has such a way of looking at Mark and making him feel like he can see every thought Mark has ever had. He’s so _intense_ , not necessarily in a bad way, but more in the sense that when Mark speaks every ounce of Johnny’s attention is on him.

It’s a dizzying feeling and as much as it confuses Mark and makes him doubt that he even deserves such attention, it also makes him feel warm inside.

As expected, Johnny asks him a million questions about what had happened to him yesterday and the lies are easy enough to get out. After all, Mark had anticipated this particular line of questioning and had carefully planned out his fake timeline this morning.

How he had firstly left Johnny’s side to enter the closest café looking for napkins to try and clean the worst of his coffee spill. How he had then been cut off from returning by some running and screaming crowds. He’d then gotten bumped around a little, explaining his still present limp and the tiny cuts rapidly healing on his face. Then, when the subway was safe, he’d simply made his way home. He did his best to emphasize that he had tried his best to find Johnny but when he noticed his phone had died, he had abandoned all hope of trying to meet up.

Johnny seems to except the explanation and eventually stops teasing Mark about being a Cinderella case and leaving Johnny all by himself.

Always quick to get the attention off of himself Mark starts asking Johnny about university and classes. The other squints at Mark as if he suspects Mark is up to something suspicious but lets him get away with it anyways and easily launches into stories about bad professors and crazy roommates.

Throughout their lunch Mark breaks all of his own rules about trying to keep the other at a distance. It’s simply too easy to imagine upcoming months of starting university and having Johnny waiting for him after classes, or walking with Johnny to parties, and he even imagines joining the photography club the other speaks so highly of. If Mark was being realistic about the things he was feeling he would acknowledge that he simply doesn’t want to give Johnny up for the sake of the Spider-Man suit.

Over the years Mark has given up a lot in order to shoulder his new responsibilities as a masked vigilante but it seems he’s finally found the one thing he simply doesn’t want to give up in the shape of a beautiful boy full of charm. He imagines coming clean to Johnny about his dual identity and having Johnny welcome him home after rough patrols holding ice to his injuries and massaging cramps out his muscles.

It’s so easy to get lost in his fairy tale fantasies while the other is sitting across from him with a warm smile, openly sharing massive parts of his life with Mark as if he has nothing to hide. It’s almost _too_ easy to imagine cuddles on couches and hand holding on the subway. Mark knows his crush has long gotten out of control and although it’s harder to imagine Johnny having similar feelings for Mark, not even he can ignore the fondness in Johnny’s eyes when he looks at him and how he brightens impossibly so when he makes Mark laugh uncontrollably.

Leaving lunch and heading back to the office Mark feels more like himself than he’s felt in months, the turmoil from this morning pushed aside for now. He even has a spring in his step as he giggles beside Johnny and basks in the other’s happiness.

He’s even able to walk past the familiar newsstand with his head high as he ignores the photos waiting to ruin him.

.

It’s not unusual for Mark to put the suit on and revisit certain areas where a Spider-Man incident took place. He believes it’s important to try and build background information so that he’s never fully relying on himself or his special gifts when walking into a Spider-Man scenario.

Thankfully the Spider-Man suit acts like its own open access pass to the majority of places in the New York area. When he enters the building from yesterday (through the front door this time) the secretary doesn’t look particularly surprised to see him. She raises any eyebrow at him and makes a phone call, holding a hand up to him indicating for him to wait where he is.

The scientist that comes to collect him looks kind enough. She has her lab coat on over her clothes, but she doesn’t look overly threatening or menacing. When she smiles at Mark her face appears kind and polite.

“Spider-Man! I was expecting you to pay us a visit sometime today, I’m glad you could stop by. Follow me I’ll show you around the areas that are not currently under emergency repair.”

While Mark follows her through the crisp white hallways, he passes multiple office spaces looking normal enough but as they walk further into the building he starts to see multiple labs labelled with hazard symbols and scientists dressed in full hazmat suits that pause what they’re doing to stare at him through their lab windows.

By the time they reach the lab that he’s told Doc Oc broke into, Mark has truly begun to feel unsettled. The lab they enter has obviously been heavily damaged by yesterday’s robbery. There are several light fixtures dangling precariously from the ceiling and there’s a white tarp covering a damaged fume hood.

“Yesterday, several vials of substance were stolen from this lab, and as you know, unfortunately Doc Oc managed to escape with the vials.”

The kindness is gone from her face now but Mark refuses to let her make him feel bad again when he has finally managed to pull himself out of his bad mood about his failure.

“So what exactly was inside the vials that Doc Oc wanted so badly?”

The doctor looks extremely uncomfortable as her eyes glance anywhere but Mark’s face.

“What Doc Oc stole that day. It was an antivenom of sorts.”

The headache that’s been creeping up since the very beginning of the day has now begun to reach behind his eyes and Mark really wishes this scientist would stop beating around the bush already and finally cut to chase.

“An antivenom for what exactly?’

“Well you see, It’s an antivenom for you.”

_Well that’s not what he was expecting._

“For me?”

“Yes. When you first started as Spider-Man approximately two years ago there were some ..concerns, about your talents from government officials. Over the years we collected several blood samples from you from stains that were left behind at some of your scenes. Using trace sample technology, we were able to determine the spider DNA most closely related to your own and thus, produce an antivenom that would combat the effects the spider DNA has on your overall genetics.”

For a single second he imagines injecting the antivenom and abandoning the Spider-Man mantle in order to live as regular Mark Lee for the rest of his life.

“So, what would it do to me?”

“Well that’s the tricky part. It would most likely shut your system down. At this point in your life, your circulatory system is so closely intertwined with the spider DNA in your body that it would be impossible to separate them at this point. You would fall ill very quickly and most likely succumb to death if the dose administered was high enough.”

_Alright never mind. No self-administered antivenoms for him._

The doctor spoke so casually and devoid of emotion as if she hadn’t just described a poison that she had created that is a full proof plan to kill Mark in seconds. A poison that was currently in the hands of one of the most notoriously violent criminals Mark has ever faced.

_It was fine. Everything was fine._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi hello is anyone still reading this story O_O 
> 
> I'll spare you guys most of the details from this chapter but MAN was it a pain to write, i feel like it's super plot heavy and I apologize if it wasnt as fun to read i really really struggled with this one but I wanted to get it posted before my exams and my thesis defence presentation 
> 
> AS ALWAYS THANK YOU SO MUCH for reading and for leaving comments!! and kudos!! they mean the whole world to me as I try to figure out how this website works and whether this story is worth the effort I put into it 
> 
> (Also can someone please let spider man mark lee have a good cry on their couch i think he really needs it) 
> 
> Thanks again for your patience with this one I love you guys! 
> 
> [find me on twitter](https://twitter.com/johyongsunny)


	4. [4]

It would be an understatement to say that Mark was fearing for his life these days. Visiting the lab had offered no clues as to where Doc Oc could have gone, and the police hadn’t been able to offer him any information either, when he’d stopped by wearing the suit.

Terrified and unable to reach out to anyone for advice, Mark had hung-up the suit and placed Spider-Man on a temporary hiatus.

Mark kept telling himself it was a tactical retreat and that he wasn’t running away.

He had turned off his refurbished police radio and had even taught himself how to sew the holes he had been ignoring on his Spider-Man suit for some time. A process that had involved multiple youtube videos and only a few minor sewing needle related injuries

With all of his newfound free time Mark had even looked up his upcoming course textbooks to get a head start on his readings.

_Okay so maybe he was running away a little._

And of course, Spider-Man’s absence couldn’t go unnoticed by the general public. As the newspapers so eloquently reminded him of his cowardice every single day when he was met with headlines ranging from “ ** _Spider-Man Gone for Good?_** ” to “ ** _New York Freed from Costumed Freak_** ”.

The last one had stung a little considering it was written by his own boss, but Mark tried to take it all in stride. After all, his heart had healed a little when he had passed Johnny’s desk where the other read the article with a furrowed expression and when he had noticed Mark standing over him, he’d crumpled the paper and tossed it in the garbage bin below his desk.

“This article is ridiculous; I hope whatever happened to Spider-Man that they’re okay you know what I mean? Like I hope someone is taking care of him at least.”

So perhaps New York had turned their back on Spider-Man but in the end the opinion that mattered most to Mark hadn’t.

.

Despite his initial anxieties and worries, it wasn’t actually such a huge sacrifice to live as Mark Lee and Mark Lee only. With the absence of Spider-Man sightings he was granted more creativity in the events he was tasked with taking pictures of for work and had finessed his way into more ~~dates~~ work related ventures with Johnny.

Their most recent excursion found them wading through yet another New York crowd. There was to be a ceremony of honour for the Chief of the police force and Mark had been told to get some shots of the ceremony for an article.

It wasn’t necessarily a two-person job, but Johnny had insisted on tagging along, citing the excuse that he didn’t want to be trapped at his desk if he could venture outside, and who was Mark to say the other couldn’t join him.

Mark didn’t really have the confidence to freely move through a crowd so the extra presence of Johnny and the feeling of his hand resting on Mark’s lower back as he guided them was comforting and appreciated.

Realistically, Mark didn’t know Johnny well enough to know if he was like _into_ Mark, or if he was just naturally this up in all of his friends’ personal space. Sure, Johnny never fondly patted their other coworkers’ head’s and never walked up behind them to massage the stress out of their shoulder’s when they were hunched in front of their computer’s. But all of their other coworkers were basically ancient, and Mark didn’t know if Johnny ever really even spoke to them outside of a work context.

But him and Johnny were friends at the least, maybe even bros.

“Hey Mark, your camera strap is crooked.”

Stopping near the front of the crowd, he maybe went a little cross eyed as he followed Johnny’s hand come up to straighten the aforementioned camera strap, with a tasteful accompaniment of hand on neck contact.

_Yeah, they were definitely bros._

Mark couldn’t even pretend to not be staring at Johnny as the other finally declared their spot a sufficient place to take pictures. With his t-shirt sleeves rolled up and dark sunglasses shielding his eyes, Johnny looked, in Mark’s unbiased opinion, quite exquisite. He wasn’t subtle and Johnny surely had to realize that Mark was openly staring at him, it would have been—

“Do things seem a little off to you?”

Shaking himself out of his daydreaming Mark watched as Johnny removed his sunglasses and Mark followed his gaze as he examined the crowd.

“What do you mean?”

Mark hadn’t even felt so much as a flash of his powers through his brain that would have tipped him towards any danger.

“I don’t even know. Like this is supposed to be a celebration but if you look at all of the officers already out, they all look... tense.”

When Mark balanced up on his tiptoes to try and see what Johnny was seeing he did notice some police officers already walking around with stiff postures. But it wasn’t like the New York Police Force was known for their friendly, welcoming attitudes or anything like that.

“Do you think we should leave?”

Mark didn’t even have the suit on him, and he trusted Johnny’s apparent bad vibes detector enough to want to get the other out of a possibly dangerous situation as fast as possible.

Before Johnny could even answer Mark, the crowd silenced as a police officer that was definitely not the Chief of Police walked up to the microphone on stage. The officer was missing his characteristic police hat and had the top few buttons of his uniform undone, making him look extremely unkempt when compared to the wall of officers that had walked on stage to stand behind him. If Mark really squinted and focused his vision, he could see faint traces of gunshot residue on the officer’s hands indicating that he’d probably fired his pistol sometime this morning. The revelation made Mark freeze for a second before he sanpped into action.

Without his suit to allow him to change into his second identity it was better for everyone involved if he simply left before he felt the painstaking need to be a good citizen and step in. Quickly turning around, he grabbed Johnny’s hand and begun dragging them through the crowd they had just passed through.

“Mark what?”

Johnny didn’t pull out of his hold, but Mark felt him attempt to halt Mark’s journey. Although Johnny was bigger than him in every way, Mark would always be the stronger one with his bonus supernatural strength, but Johnny didn’t necessarily know that. If Mark had his head clear he would have allowed Johnny to stop them in order to conceal that he was way stronger than he looked but the only thing on his mind was trying to get Johnny to safety.

“Mark just wait a second!”

The slight hint of fear in Johnny’s voice is what finally halted his tunnel vision thinking. He once again stopped in the middle of the crowd to turn back towards the other, seeing Johnny’s clear confusion as he stared at their hands indicating that the strength imbalance hadn’t gone unnoticed. He slowly slipped his hand out of Mark’s grip as if he was expecting him to be unable to pull away again. This time, Mark easily let his hand go watching as Johnny flexed and curled his fingers.

Instantly, Mark felt like shit. Over his two-year Spider-Man career he didn’t exactly have a lot of experience handling people with his unattainable strength. He didn’t have to second guess his strength when his aunt hugged him, but he did remember a few instances of Spider-Man gripping someone’s wrist a tad too tightly when dragging them out of a dangerous position and maybe a few instances where what was supposed to be a regular punch had left thugs with multiple fractures.

_Oh god if he had hurt Johnny, he was never going to forgive himself._

Just as he was about to apologize the crack of the microphone echoed through the crowd.

“I have a message for the Spider-Man.”

The chills that ran up Mark’s body weren’t even a side effect from his powers but simply an effect of his own fear.

  
Johnny had already turned back towards the stage and Mark had never felt so trapped in his life.

The officer sighed loud enough to have it echo through the microphone as he looked down at the paper in his hands, supposedly describing a message for Mark.

“The man that calls himself Doc Oc has taken the Police Chief and his family.”

The crowd around Mark begun whispering in panicked tones and Mark shook his head to try and focus his hearing back towards the man on stage, worried that he was going to get distracted and miss something important.

“Doc Oc has stated that he will deliver the Police Chief and his family members to the Manhattan Summer Charity Gala as long as Spider-Man is also in attendance. If Doc Oc does not meet Spider-Man at this event he has said that he will dispose of the Chief and his family in whatever means he sees fit. That is all everyone. Please get home safely.”

The reporters that had shown up the earliest and had found themselves closest to the stage were yelling and attempting to shove their wireless microphones towards the officer’s present on stage, eagerly asking for statements or headline material. But no one on stage paid them any mind and everyone quickly exited the stage and surrounding area.

Blinking slowly Johnny looked back down at Mark and Mark could just imagine how he looked right now. He felt pure terror and a little like he was going to throw up the muffin Johnny had brought him for breakfast this morning.

“C’mon Markie, let’s go back to the office.”

Johnny wrapped his arm around Mark’s frame bringing a hand up to his forehead as if to check his temperature.

“You look a little pale Markie we gotta get some lunch in to you before you expire.”

Mark desperately wanted to exist in a world where Johnny’s hold and offers of lunch would be enough to fix all of his problems.

.

  
Walking back into the office, Mark expected the chaos that met them. J.J was sticking his head out of his office screaming about a meeting about to take place and if everyone wanted to keep their jobs, they better show up to the meeting room right now!

Johnny sighed and let his arm drop from Mark’s shoulder.

“You go sit and I’ll be there in a second okay?”

Mark felt bad about making Johnny worry. Johnny was always so open about his feelings that it was obvious just how worried Mark’s condition had him. Feeling too weak to speak Mark nodded and kept his head down as he walked into the meeting room and sunk into one of the chairs on the side, making sure to drop his backpack onto the seat beside him to save it for Johnny.

Just as J.J was beginning to yell about people officially being late and shutting the door if the last few people didn’t walk in immediately; Johnny strode through giving J.J a bright sarcastic smile as he naturally walked to sit beside Mark. Moving Mark’s bag, he proudly held out an apple for Mark, leaning in so he could secretly whisper to him.

“I know it’s not much, but it should tide you over until the meetings over and J.J will be yelling so much no one should even hear you eat it.”

The familiar grin was back on Johnny’s face and Mark reached out to take the apple not wanting to mention to Johnny that even the thought of taking a bite of an apple was enough to make him feel sick.

J.J had finally taken his place at the head of the table, apparently too wound up to take a seat.

“Alright everyone we need to talk about the chaos that happened today and how we’re going to beat the Times to all the best headlines and reports.”

Mark wanted to roll his eyes. Sure, The Bugle did well and was known enough around the city, but they definitely weren’t a match for the Times.

“I managed to get us two press badges for the Summer Gala and have already painstakingly decided which of my blessed employees will be tasked with such an honour.”

Mark heard Johnny scoff under his breath at the dramatics and it was almost enough to bring a smile to his face.

“Lee and Suh, you’ll have full access to the event to take pictures and gather information.”

_Wait what?_

Realistically, Johnny had proven himself time and time again in this newspaper which is the main reason why he still had a job after his internship had ended, a feat Mark doubted that he’d be able to achieve. So in a way, it made sense for him to be given one of the press passes but giving one to _him_!?

“But boss we both know that a charity gala is a fancy way of saying an event for rich people to mingle and drink lots of champagne and sir I can’t even legally drink yet!”

“But Lee that’s why you’re the perfect fit. Last event Crawford went to, he indulged so much on the complimentary champagne that he forgot to take his lens cap off!”

The aforementioned reporter sitting across the table from Mark flushed a bright colour that could even rival Mark’s blush and beside him Mark heard Johnny laugh which he quickly tried to mask with fake coughing even going so far as to thump his chest.

If Mark wasn’t in the middle of a freak out, he would probably ruin Johnny’s ruse by how hard he would be laughing at the other’s antics. Instead he turned to Johnny trying to put on his best puppy dog eyes to try and convey just how badly he did not want to be at this event.

Well how badly he didn’t want to be there as Mark Lee. He still hadn’t decided if Spider-Man was going to be making an appearance or not.

Meeting his eyes Johnny smiled and reached below the table to rest a hand on his knee.

“Aw c’mon Markie it’ll be fun.”

J.J’s voice cut through the chatter once again as he barked more orders and dismissed everyone, leaving the meeting room with a plan to further talk to Mark and Johnny about what he expected from them.

When it was only the two of them left in the room Johnny stretched his arms over his head and stood.

“I know it sounds really intimidating Mark but you’re a fantastic photographer and we’ve always worked so well as a team right? And besides Spider-Man probably won’t even show up.”

_Wait_

“You don’t think he’s gonna show?”

Mark hastily stood to follow Johnny taking a quick bite of his gifted apple when Johnny ignored his question and point at the untouched fruit. Following the other back towards his desk Mark couldn’t let the conversation drop.

It was so rare that he was able to talk to others about what Spider-Man should or shouldn’t due, aside from the rare police officer that almost always said Spider-Man should absolutely not and should frankly never do anything ever again.

“Doesn’t he like kinda have to show up after being called out like that?”

Johnny had reached his desk and instead of sitting down he leaned against it with his arms crossed, the tilt of his head and purse of his lips indicating that he was thinking of Mark’s question carefully.

“Well I mean it’s obviously a trap. Spider-Man has never gone on a hiatus before so whatever happened last month must have really spooked him. If Doc Oc is forcing him back into public with this stunt he has to have a plan that could really hurt Spider-Man.”

Maybe Johnny was more than just a photographer and a much better all-rounder reporter than Mark had given him credit for.

“I guess. But like they said if he doesn’t show that he’s basically going to kill people.”

“Mark I’m sure Spider-Man has a whole team behind him it would be almost impossible to do the superhero thing on his own. I used to think it was the police force themselves but if they had a way of contacting him then they wouldn’t have had to make such a dramatic statement today.”

Mark so badly wanted to bring up the hypothetical of ‘ _yeah but what if spider-man is just a guy that hasn’t even started university yet operating out of his childhood bedroom_ ’ but he worried that would be a little too on the nose and Johnny wasn’t a fool.

“I guess you’re right.”

Johnny smiled at Mark again, because that was seemingly his default when looking at Mark, always smiling, always looking so fond it drove Mark crazy.

“Anyways Markie it isn’t something you need to be worried about okay? Leave the superhero bravery and villain politics to the professionals. The only thing you need to be worried about for the event is if you have a suit that fits you or not.”

The last time that Mark had put a suit on had been for his uncle’s funeral, but he decided to not share that fun fact with the other and nodded instead.

.

For the rest of the day Mark sat at his computer and tried to get his thoughts in order. He had searched the internet for pictures of the Police Chief’s family and when he stumbled across a copy of their digital Christmas card from last winter full of beaming smiles and three young children Mark had exited out of the page and ran to the bathroom to empty the contents of his stomach.

Ideally, he’d like to survive the event, without paying the price of sacrificing a family of five. But as he tried to think of a plan through searching up anything he could think of, from blueprints to the building the gala would be held in to horribly optimistic first aid tips for poisons, he’d only given himself a splitting migraine.

Mark had done some pretty reckless things wearing the Spider-Man suit but he’d never walked into a situation where he was bargaining with his own life against other’s.

With a rain cloud hanging over his head Mark let himself imagine the worst-case scenario.

He imagines walking into the gala as Spider-Man most likely walking into a trap where Doc Oc could inject him with some government funded anti-spider-man poison. Doc Oc would want to gloat, always one for the dramatics. He’d most likely rip Spider-Man’s mask off to expose his identity. Only to reveal Mark Lee, some random, scrawny asian kid that no one would even know. Spider-Man’s big identity reveal ruined by Mark’s relative obsolete standing in society.

If the gala was to be the end of him, his aunt would be heartbroken, and he’d hate having to make her go through the funeral process again only a few years after his uncle, and this time she wouldn’t even have Mark by her side to help out.

Johnny would probably feel betrayed. Out of everyone in his life he’s the one that Mark has directly lied to the most about the whole Spider-Man thing. Mark briefly pictures Johnny on random television shows talking about how he knew the Spider-Man all along and how he wasn’t really all that special.

If Mark kept this pity party up, he was going to end up crying at the intern desk and wasn’t that embarrassing. Deciding that he’d be better off having his pity party at home he packs his backpack and grabs the ballcap he kept on his desk for days he needed to venture outside in the sun, quickly pulling it on hoping that it’ll hide the gloomy expression on his face. Attempting to make a quick exit Mark hustles through the different desks and braces himself for slipping by Johnny’s desk undetected when what he sees makes him come to a sudden stop.

Looking over at Johnny’s desk shows that the other has fallen asleep with his work computer still on. He looks a little uncomfortable with his large build hunched over his desk and his head pillowed on his folded arms, but when Mark walks closer and sees no movement from the other he figures he must really be asleep.

When he glances at the computer screen, he sees that Johnny has his pictures folder open with the previews of the photos he had taken the other day when him and Mark were tasked with documenting a local restaurant’s 50th year in business. The first few are the typical newspaper accepted photographs, with the multiple familial generations proudly standing in front of their storefront.

All of the photos near the bottom are of Mark. He remembers being aware of some of them, joking with Johnny and pretending to run out of his camera frame. The other photos Mark wasn’t aware of. Pictures of him with his camera up to his face followed by a picture of Mark slumped on the subway, sleeping with his head resting on his hand on their way back to the office.

Mark isn’t one to project, especially when he has such little experience with relationships and even friendships in general. But the pictures clearly standout from Johnny’s usual work repertoire and even to Mark’s non-professionally trained eyes he can see the care and fondness that Johnny projects in every photo he’s taken of him.

_Mark’s heart aches_.

He thinks about walking into the fancy gala with Johnny at his side. Both of them wearing suits with Johnny looking confident and absolutely incredible. He thinks about them walking in with their arms linked, knowing that they’re ultimately there for work but choosing to enjoy each other’s presence for a moment and pretend that they’re just another young couple with far too much money, that fits in at galas held in Manhattan. Mark also thinks about Johnny leaving the event by himself, shaken and re-evaluating every interaction they’ve ever had.

Mark doesn’t know what hurts more, his imagination when Johnny was indifferent to his death or the version where Johnny feels the effects.

And maybe the idea of his death meeting him in three days makes him careless but without thinking he raises a hand and lets it sweep through Johnny’s hair, pulling it back from his forehead and letting it fall again.

Johnny immediately stirs and lifts his head to reach Mark’s gaze. His eyes are still partly closed, and he lazily grins up at Mark, who hasn’t yet pulled his hand back from where it slid down to rest on Johnny’s shoulder.

“Johnny c’mon you’ll be more comfortable sleeping at home.”

Johnny groans in a way that indicates that he very much does not like the idea of moving but he pushes his desk chair back to get ready to stand. Wordlessly, Mark helps a sleepy Johnny pack his bag and gets him to his feet.

They move in relative silence as they inhibit each other’s space and make their way through the office and down the subway tunnel. Johnny’s subway stop for his dorm is five stops after Mark’s own, but he lets Johnny rest on his shoulder and doze off after, letting his stop pass by them. When Johnny’s station is called Mark gently shakes his shoulder, and Johnny snaps up looking as if he’s about to scold Mark for missing his own stop, but Mark shakes his head.

“I wanted to walk you home.”

He further indulges himself and links their arms together just like he imagined earlier. He’s never walked Johnny home before or even been near Johnny’s dorm, so he lets the other lead the way. Before he knows it, they come to a stop outside a stereotypically looking dorm building and Johnny almost looks awkward as he shrugs his shoulders and gestures towards the door.

“Well this is me Markie, thanks for protecting me and walking me home.”

Johnny never looks awkward or out of place and Mark has certainly never seen him blush before. But here he is looking soft and unsure, all because Mark walked him home.

Fueled by finally feeling like he has some control over something in his life, Mark steps into Johnny’s space. He slowly brings a hand up to the other’s face giving Johnny plenty of time to pull away or indicate that Mark’s touch is unwelcomed. He’s almost surprised when his palm finally rests against the other’s cheek and is delighted when Johnny instantly leans into the touch.

Raising up onto the tips of his toes he plants a kiss on the corner of Johnny’s mouth. The kiss is chaste and sweet and Mark lets himself linger for a second before pulling back. He watches as Johnny slowly blinks his eyes open after he’d apparently let them close during their embrace. The corners of his mouth curl up and when he meets Mark’s eyes, Mark can see the pure happiness radiating from the other.

Before he gets ahead of himself and pours out pieces of his soul that he’s not ready to share yet, Mark steps back and regains his bearings in his own space.

“Have a good night Johnny. I hope you sleep well.”

Johnny’s face no longer shows any of the exhaustion or tiredness that had been plaguing his face all day and he beams at Mark as he waves and lets a small laugh escape as if he still can’t really believe what just happened.

“You too Mark. Text me when you get home safe okay?”

When Johnny reaches the door to the complex, he turns back to Mark one more time and gives him an exaggerated wave.

Mark doesn’t know if he’s ever felt as happy as he does right now so naturally when he makes his way back onto the subway to go home that’s when reality sets in and his heart begins shattering piece by piece.

Three days. He had three days until the gala, and he was no closer to building a plan that could save his life. But one thing he knew to be sure was that he would never be happy with just three more days spent on earth with Johnny Suh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WELL HERE WE ARE FOLKS ANY THOUGHTS? 
> 
> I have tentatively capped this at 6 chapters but we'll see how it goes! I wanted to thank everyone that commented on the last chapter I was admittedly pretty anxious about it and so many of you made me feel so much better <3 I actually had a lot of fun writing this chapter and hope you guys enjoyed reading it!
> 
> Also omg so much nct stuff has happened since we last talked the beyond live?? the sm concert?? THE JOHNNY TATTOO REVEAL ON SAID SM CONCERT????? 
> 
> anyways I hope everyone had good holidays and a good start to the year!! 
> 
> thank you again for taking the time to read!
> 
> [find me on twitter](https://twitter.com/johyongsunny)


	5. [5]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> content warning // for mentions of needles and blood in this chapter please be safe friends!!

Wearing the Spider-Man suit underneath his off-the-rack department store suit was exactly as uncomfortable and impractical as it sounded. On top of that, trying to ensure that no bright red or blue showed through his façade was just annoying. Mark had torn his room apart desperately searching for black socks that weren’t ankle length or displaying an obnoxious logo on the side and had instead had to settle for a pair of white socks that he had pulled up to his shins. Not to mention he’d wasted a day of his life pulling apart department stores trying to find a pair of white dress gloves that his aunt had asked him a million times if he was _really 100% sure_ that he wanted to wear and made him look like a waiter more than anything.

If Mark were to describe his outfit for the evening, he would say it’s a child trying to graduate to the adult’s table. So overall, he wasn’t feeling great. His aunt had been dancing around the apartment all day, forcing Mark’s hair up off his forehead with an unbelievable amount of hairspray and doublechecking that she couldn’t find any black socks either. Mark had tried to wave off her fussing multiple times, but she insisted that since he had skipped out on his prom months ago, that she should be allowed to have this ‘stereotypical American guardian experience’.

After glancing at the clock, Mark noted that Johnny should already be off the subway and walking the rest of the distance to his apartment, which Mark had triple checked a million times that Johnny actually knew how to get to.

His stomach dropped at the simple thought of Johnny. Mark hadn’t seen him since his internal ‘ _omg I am going to die without kissing the boy I like I must kiss asap’_ freak out and even though they had texted with Johnny sending actual heart emojis, Mark couldn’t find it in himself to celebrate the discovery of his feelings apparently being returned. Every time he thought about Johnny taking him on a date or having that conversation that Johnny had been hinting about over text, his brain unhelpfully reminded him of the literal deadline hanging over his head.

_3 hours to go._

It would be a gross over exaggeration for Mark to say that he had a plan for this evening. Because realistically, he had nothing. There were far too many variables that he couldn’t even begin to plan around or anticipate. What if Doc Oc was bluffing? What if the captives were already dead? And Mark was confident in multiple areas of his super hero abilities, but even he couldn’t bring people back from death.

Spider-Man situations were often unpredictable, and Mark generally led his alter-ego on an ‘act first, ask questions later’ aspect but the severity of the stakes at hand had him unattractively sweating through his spandex. He’d gotten little to no sleep the previous night and aside from a quick nap that Mark had meditated for hours in order to actually achieve, he hadn’t been able to rest much.

Tiredness wasn’t necessarily a rare feeling for him, but this bone deep exhaustion was unique. Mark’s head felt hazy and his limbs felt slow and heavy in a way he hadn’t experienced since the spider bite.

_Mark was scared._

He was absolutely terrified, and he had to accept his fear and the physical consequences it was gifting him with, but it all came down to time and he was quickly running out of it.

With what felt like an enormous amount of effort, Mark gathered his suit jacket and camera bag and made to move into the open area of the apartment. He closed his bedroom door behind him and briefly wondered if it was to be the last time that he ever saw it.

Mark took a number of calming breaths and tried to keep his anxieties at bay. He still had a minimum number of hours left to live as Mark Lee and he had always been particularly good at playing that part.

.

His aunt’s smile was so large as he walked into her open arms. She had pulled out a disposable camera left undeveloped from some other special occasion and although Mark had tried to insist that both him and Johnny had cameras that were more than capable of capturing Mark in a cheap suit, his aunt had come back with the argument that she’d never be able to use their complicated cameras and she wanted pictures of the two of them together.

_And wasn’t that embarrassing._

Aside from random classmates that had been stuck in group projects with Mark, he’d never brought friends over, and having to explain to his aunt that his ~~coworker~~ , ~~love of his life~~ , friend was going to be coming over before a work event had his aunt far more excited than Mark thought necessary.

In hindsight, he’d tried to appear so nonchalant when explaining the situation to her, but the stuttering and red cheeks had probably given him away.

The buzz from their apartment’s lobby rang through their living room, and Mark’s aunt quickly released him from where she’d been fussing with his hair and practically ran to the door, standing on her tiptoes to look out their apartment’s peephole, waiting for Johnny to walk down their hallway.

Johnny had barely knocked on their front door before Mark’s aunt was ripping it open, and Mark watched as Johnny’s surprise at having the door open while his arm was still in the air, was quickly masked into the charming expression he often used with the older people at work.

Mark didn’t say a word as he watched Johnny, _his_ Johnny good naturedly greet his aunt and compliment their average apartment. Standing right in the entryway with his suit jacket tucked under his arm and his camera bag hung over his shoulder. His hair was slicked back in a style Mark had never seen him with before but everything else about him screamed comfortable familiarity.

Finally ungluing himself from the floor, Mark didn’t have to pretend to be Mark Lee: completely smitten by his co-worker, because he knew that the feeling projected from him so obviously. Even his aunt who had been fussing over Johnny and ordering him to keep his shoes on, halted her actions and softened when she saw Mark’s honest expression of fondness.

Allowing himself to be indulgent, he ran his eyes slowly from Johnny’s polished dress shoes up to meet a smile that reflected his own. And maybe Mark had been trying to run from his feelings for weeks, but it was impossible to escape the two facts currently presented to him.

Johnny was beautiful, and that Mark loved him.

Finally working up the nerve to meet Johnny’s eyes, there was no doubt left in Mark’s head over whether Mark’s love was one-sided. Johnny had always worn his emotions so obviously on his face and Mark was sick of pretending that it was only general politeness that he was seeing when the sincerity of love was _right there_.

It was right there for Mark to accept and to grow in.

“Hi Markie.”

Johnny’s voice was so quiet as he easily walked into Mark’s space, reaching his hands up. One of Johnny’s hands rested on his nape while the other rested over his heart and Johnny had to feel how quickly it was racing.

Johnny’s smile grew and Mark almost went cross-eyed trying to follow Johnny’s gaze as it travelled all over his face.

“You haven’t even done your tie up yet.” Johnny practically whispered as if he was afraid to break the moment they were having. He let his hands drift to where Mark’s tie was uselessly laying over his shoulders, before reaching behind Mark’s neck to flip his collar up.

It was the brush of skin against his throat that startled Mark awake. Realizing that he’d left the top button undone on his dress shirt, he imagined Johnny’s hands slipping on his button and accidentally grazing against the red and blue of his suit that was barely hidden beneath his collar.

Panicking, Mark quickly stepped out of Johnny’s embrace putting both arms out to maximize the space between them. “I got it! Thanks though!”

In order to ignore the hurt that flickered on Johnny’s face, Mark busied himself with sorting his buttons and tie out by himself.

Certainly picking up on the sudden tension in the room, Mark’s aunt quickly yelled for pictures while ordering Johnny and Mark to stand closer.

The two of them were suddenly stilted and awkward in a way that was so unlike the two of them and Johnny was clearly avoiding touching Mark as if he was afraid his touch would be unwelcome a second time. Determined to fix his mistake, Mark leaned closer into Johnny’s side, tilting his head up to try and catch Johnny’s eyes again.

His aunt’s voice almost startles him as she laughs. “Mark honey, you have to actually look at the camera for a few of these pictures.”

He feels his cheeks grow red but decides any embarrassment in the world is worth it if Johnny will turn to look at him with a lazy grin on his face like he just did.

“Do you think I look handsome in my suit Markie?”

The breathy ‘yes’ that Mark lets out only adds to his embarrassment and he’s sure that he’s turned red to the tips of his ears, but Johnny’s brilliant answering smile makes it worth it. Mark forgets all about looking forward for pictures, but he hears his aunt turning the film wheel on the cheap disposal camera and some part of his brain registers the flash.

Everything is background noise in comparison to Johnny looking at him as if the two of them are sharing a secret and his arm finally wraps around Mark’s waist, pulling him tighter into Johnny’s side.  
  
Mark goes willingly.

.

The outside of the gala is overwhelming. Mark had hoped that the very public threat of possible violence would have been enough to scare New York’s high society away. Rather, it seems to have the opposite effect as various socialites that Mark doesn’t know, pose on a red carpet and show off expensive dresses and even more expensive jewelry.

Sensing his discomfort, Johnny grabs Mark’s hand and wades them through the crowd in a mirror of days ago.

Mark does his best to look for any potential dangers and holds his camera up to his face pretending to take photos. He looks through his viewfinder ignoring the people posing in front of him and tries to find any hints towards where exactly Doc Oc is hiding.

He startles when he feels Johnny grab his hand once again.

“Come on Markie we should head inside now.”

And who would judge Mark if he took an extra-long amount of time to fasten his lens cap, fix his camera strap, and pretend to have to fix his tie. He’d been doing such a good job at enjoying his time with Johnny that it had almost been enough to make him forget that he was likely walking towards his death.

The brutal end of Spider-Man and lil ol’ Mark Lee, an afterthought casualty in the chaos. 

Probably assuming that his hesitation was a result of nerves, Johnny was incredibly patient with him, letting him fuss over everything. Mark knowing that they were currently missing multiple photo ops.

Johnny was just _so_ perfect.

And now Mark was shaking with the effort to not cry.

“Hey, it’s okay to be nervous, I know this event is kind of a lot.”

Feeling particularly cowardly, Mark shakes his head once again refusing to meet Johnny’s eyes and instead, forcing his feet to move forward.

Apparently reaching his limit of how much he was willing to ignore for the sake of Mark’s pride, Johnny links his arm through Mark’s and stops him.

“Markie just wait a second.

Close your eyes and humour me. You’re Mark Lee and I’m Johnny Suh, two Manhattan kids born into families with way too much money. We met on some joint family vacation to some exotic island and between laying around on a resort and the beach, we fell madly in love. In order to keep up appearances, our parents force us to go to events like this. We complain and bicker, but we don’t really care. It’s just an opportunity for us to walk around this event full of shallow and lonely people and show off how lucky we are to have each other and how jealous everyone should be. We walk around the room making everyone second guess if they’ve ever felt love like ours before. We aren’t perfect, but we pretend we are. Just like everyone else in there.

Everyone’s just pretending Mark. We can do that too.”

Mark opens his eyes not realizing that he’d let them close and he knows that there’s no reason trying to hide the tears that slide down his face. Looking down at him, Johnny immediately panics “Mark oh god I am so sorry if that was super weird! I was just trying to help—”

Sliding a hand up to Johnny’s face, wishing that he didn’t have the barrier of the stupid glove between them, Mark turns the other’s face down closer to his own.

“No Johnny you’re good. I just got wrapped up in how much I wanted a life like that.”

Mark is pleased when the edges of Johnny’s mouth turn back up into a smile.

“Johnny?”

“Yeah Markie?”

“Kiss me?”

“Honestly Markie, I’ve been waiting all night.”

For Mark, time stops when Johnny kisses him. He isn’t thinking about anything outside of their safe little bubble. In that moment, nothing scares him other than the feeling that his knees might give out and nothing crosses his mind other than the warmth spreading throughout his entire body. Mark curls his fingers into Johnny’s jacket, holding on much tighter than probably acceptable, uncaring if he was leaving wrinkles behind, leaving his other hand resting against Johnny’s face, holding it with the utmost care.

The feeling of Johnny’s taller frame wrapping around his own feels forbidden in a way that Mark simply never imagined that he could have something like this. That he could deserve something as precious as this moment.

Taking a step back Mark takes a deep breath and holds his arm out for Johnny to take.

“C’mon let’s head inside for real this time.”

.

The inside of the event is just as overwhelming as the outside. The event space is easily the fanciest building Mark has ever been in and the guest list of New York’s wealthiest makes him feel small and insignificant.

The press pass hanging around his neck lets people know that he’s not worth approaching and he happily leaves it at that. Johnny is somewhat more dedicated to their job as he murmurs to Mark about which politicians will most likely give them comments worth publishing and which ones will ramble aimlessly forever.

Mark spots the scientist he’d met days ago and quickly steers him and Johnny away from her. There isn’t a single bone in Mark’s body that trusts anyone from that organization to be on his side.

Mark tries to focus his hearing to pick up any sounds that would indicate danger, but it’s impossible to focus with Johnny’s breath on his ear and his hand staying on the small of his back. Mark needs out.

“We should split up!”

Johnny frowns down at him and looks as if he thinks that Mark is really being quite foolish, but he lets Mark step out of his half embrace anyways. 

“You want to walk around by yourself?”

Mark doesn’t blame Johnny for the doubt in his voice. After all, Mark had been crying like a baby right outside and now he was acting as if he was perfectly capable of navigating this space by himself.

“Yeah I just think it’ll be better to get as much as material as possible at the beginning so we can relax for the rest of the night.”

Johnny still looks a little like he wants to call out Mark’s bluff, but he nods and glances down at his watch. “Let’s meet back by that hallway there at 9pm sharp, okay Markie?”

“Sounds good! I’ll be there I promise.”

_Mark had never made such a loose promise in his life._

_But it was also a promise that he desperately wished he could keep._

Leaving Johnny behind in the crowd Mark forces himself to not look back. He had had his fairy-tale moment outside minutes ago and he wasn’t stupid enough to think that life would let him have another.

.

Mark pushes through the crowd and tries to look like he belongs, as he walks through a relatively quiet hallway. Sliding past people carrying trays of food and champagne, Mark finds a blessedly empty bathroom and quickly pulls his formal suit off. He grabs his mask from its hiding spot in his camera bag and folds his clothes carefully, as if he thinks that he’ll actually be returning to them later.

Pushing a loose ceiling tile aside, he quickly hides his belongings and tugs the mask over his head residing himself to the fact that the best travel plan was the dusty vent above his head.

The vent creeks a little under his weight as he pulls himself up and he quickly clings to the top of it to avoid making too much noise. Mark closes his eyes and tries to reach his hearing out and physically lurches when he hears the unmistakeable sound of Doc Oc’s mechanical arms shifting.

_Doc Oc was definitely in the building. Ok cool._

Mark’s initial instincts were all telling him to run away, to throw the Spider-Man suit away forever and run back to Johnny as soon as possible.

But Mark knew that he could never continue to live his life knowing that he was responsible for whatever harm Doc Oc had and would continue to inflict on the Police Chief’s family. So, Mark did what he had been doing the last few days and forced himself to move forwards.

Finding the room where the captives were being held was easy enough. Mark’s brain helpfully supplies that this was because the game was never meant for Mark to not find them. They were simply acting as bait and Mark was too much of a sucker to ignore it.

The family looked decent enough from behind. The Police Chief was sporting a few cuts and bruises, but his wife and children looked relatively unharmed and that brought some relief to Mark. It would be easier to get them out if no one was sporting any broken limbs.

He peered through the vent trying to find any hints that Doc Oc was hiding behind the various storage boxes littered around the room. Mark didn’t see or hear any immediate sign of him and figured that this was either all part of Doc Oc’s plan, or that his absence wouldn’t last for long.

Mark knew that he couldn’t simply just walk out the door with the family under his arms and that it would be the easiest for him to get them all in the vent. There were so many boxes piled in the room that they’d have to move one at a time in order to avoid bumping into anything and causing an avalanche. All of them travelling in the vent together would be noisy, but once they were out of harm’s way, Mark could also happily disappear and then _bam_ Mark Lee survives another day.

_Perfect plan._

He moves to finally push the vent from its hinges and slowly puts it down beside him hoping to avoid as much noise as possible. Mark was soundless as he carefully lowered himself to the floor with a web and ran to the family staying crouched and keeping his senses open for any indications of danger.

The Police Chief was the first to notice his presence and Mark quickly put a finger up to his mask reminding everyone to be as quiet as possible. The Police Chief was the most injured and therefore the biggest liability, which meant that Mark had to get him out first. The man tried to argue frantically gesturing with his eyes towards his family and Mark understood the need, but he also wasn’t going to compromise. He tugged the Chief to his feet and dragged him towards the vent.

  
Mark had already left a web behind, silently asking if the Chief was in good enough condition to climb it himself. When the Chief nodded, Mark left him to turn back, intending to grab the kids next. When he made his way back to the family he momentarily froze when he saw a tiny baby nestled in the arms of its mother. The baby definitely hadn’t been featured in the Christmas card Mark had seen on the internet. Deciding he could handle the kids by himself he reached a hand out for the mom next.

She wasn’t able to climb the web by herself with a baby in her arms and Mark started to panic while he helped her climb into the vent.

_Too long. This was taking too long._

Getting both mother and baby secured in the vent, he ran back for the younger child reminding both kids to be quiet and reaching for the daughter’s hand. He tried his best to signal to the son that he’d be right back for him. Lifting the small girl into the vent was easy enough but he turned pale when he heard the vent starting to creak under everyone’s combined weight.

“Go! Start moving! Split up!” Mark hissed between his teeth watching when the Police Chief nodded back at him and started crawling down the path Mark had arrived through. Mark turned back to grab the final kid, starting to think that he might actually pull this off, when his ears picked up the telltale sounds of mechanical buzzing. Mark quickly plastered himself to the side of a stack of boxes. A glance towards the remaining kid showed that he was staring right where Mark was trying to hide, and he quickly shook his head bringing his finger back up in a shushing motion.

Thankfully, the kid seemed to understand enough and looked back forward as Doc Oc entered the room. Mark could see the kid crying and his heart ached, he couldn’t be more than six years old and he was trying so hard to be brave for his family and Mark.

Doc Oc’s voice was taunting as he waltzed around the room. “Spider-Man! I know you’re hiding here somewhere! Please come out and help my poor friend here! You already helped his family and you’re just going to leave him behind?”

The kid was full out sobbing now and Mark cursed under his breath wishing that he’d been just a little bit faster on getting everyone out in order to spare the kid from this bit. Although Mark was acutely aware of Doc Oc’s presence in the room as he hit random boxes over and sent their contents crashing to the floor, Mark kept his eyes on the kid searching for any kind of opening. And that’s when the kid loudly sniffled, turned and looked directly at him.

Doc Oc’s reaction was immediate, lashing an arm out towards Mark’s hiding spot as he quickly pulled himself into the air to avoid a collision. Mark flew through the air using various boxes as leverage and frantically trying to avoid being cornered.

A mechanical arm swung by his face and Mark quickly leaned back to dodge it taking note of the syringe held in its claws.

_Classy._

Sure enough when Mark chanced a look towards the villain, he saw each mechanical hand holding a syringe. The extra demand for the arms to hold on to the relatively fragile cargo slowed their overall movement which Mark was grateful for. Realistically speaking, Mark wouldn’t be able to dodge forever as he had already been reminded of during their last altercation.

Hesitating with his back to a stack of cargo Mark waited for Doc Oc to take the bait.

One of Doc’s arms lunged out and Mark quickly spun out of the way looking behind him to see the arm momentarily stuck in the box that it had burst through.

_This was it._

Knowing that he wasn’t going to get a better opening, Mark slid on the floor towards the kid who had moved from his spot closer to the wall and pulled him into his arms. There was no use trying to use the vent now that his stealth operation had failed, and Mark cast a single web up to pull them quicker towards the door.

_They were going to make it._

Mark could see the doorway and began running on foot trying not to jostle the toddler in his arms too badly. And that’s when he felt a sharp sting on the side of his neck. Glancing down the best he could he saw the unmistakable shape of a syringe sticking out uncomfortably.

Looking behind him, he saw the triumphant smirk of Doc Oc as he looked down on Mark making him feel so impossibly small.

“I win Spider-Man.”

Refusing to let the man gloat Mark reached a free hand up and ripped the needle out of his skin turning back and leaving the room. Doc Oc didn’t even attempt to follow them, probably assuming that Mark was already good as dead.

Mark was conscious of the toddler still in his arms hanging on to him tightly as he tried to keep his eyesight focused while it threatened to fade in and out. When he squinted, he could see the unmistakeable shape of the Police Chief’s family safe and sound after their vent trip and Mark tried to look as normal as possible as he walked down the hallway. He carefully put the kid back on his feet and let him run up to his parent’s, clutching his mother’s leg tightly.

The Police Chief took a step forward and clapped a hand on Mark’s shoulder not knowing that the slight touch almost knocked Mark to his knees.

“Thank you, Spider-Man. I have already notified my colleagues about Doc Oc’s presence and they’re moving a team into the building as we speak.”

Mark tried his best to nod and turned around to find somewhere else to fall apart. He couldn’t collapse around all these people, he refused.

As he made to leave, he heard the son sniffle loudly and call out to him.

“Mr Spider-Man are you gonna be okay?”

Normally Mark would be quick to comfort children that he ran into with the suit on, but he didn’t have the energy for more than a quick wave before he was limping back down the hallway.

.

Ignoring multiple looks from strangers Mark found himself in front of the bathroom that he had started the evening in and pushed the door open finding it empty once again. Stumbling into the bathroom and fighting through his vision going in and out, Mark made it to the bathroom sink and planted both hands on the counter in front of him before pulling his mask off. He felt like he couldn’t breathe. His nose was already leaking a steady stream of blood and he braced himself as a wave of nausea hit him, forcing him to lurch over the sink and cough up more blood.

Mark turned the tap on to try and splash some cold water on his face and when he catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror, he realizes that he’s crying. There’s a constant stream of blood running from his nose and he keeps gagging on the amount of blood in his mouth coughing it up continuously.

He tries to take a step away from the counter, motivated by some part of his brain rationalizing that he can make it all the way to his phone hidden in the ceiling tile. He makes it one step before his legs give out and he crashes to the floor. He finds that he doesn’t have the energy to get back up.

Mark feels pathetic and exhausted and, in that moment, he resides himself to a lonely death in a random bathroom.

“Mark? Are you in here?”

_No._

Ignoring his mentally projected protests Johnny enters the bathroom looking as brilliant as he had at the start of the night, talking to himself while fiddling with his camera.

“Mark it’s nine now! Are you in—oh’”

Mark had imagined the whole Spider-Man reveal a million different ways but lying on a bathroom floor in a puddle of his own blood was not one of them.

Johnny has always been an open book to Mark but it’s hard to translate all of the emotions that pass-through Johnny’s face in a matter of seconds. For a brief moment Mark is thankful for the invention of camera straps for if there wasn’t one fastened around Johnny’s neck, the other’s camera would have surely crashed to the floor.

Johnny stands frozen two steps into the bathroom as he looks at Mark with wide eyes. It takes Mark a second to realize that he isn’t staring at Mark’s face, but at the Spider-Man logo on his chest.

Mark wants to tell Johnny that he loves him. All things considered; Mark decides that Johnny’s face is a pretty wonderful thing to be the last thing that he sees in his existence. But he finds that he doesn’t even have the energy to speak anymore, only letting out a pathetic groan.

The groan seems to wake something in Johnny and the other is suddenly running towards him, kneeling on the floor at a speed that makes Mark wince for his knees.

“Mark oh my god! What happened?”

Mark tries to speak but is halted by another coughing fit.

“Holy shit Mark! You’re bleeding like a lot! And you’re Spider-Man! Oh my fuck!”

If Mark were coherent enough, he’d feel slightly bad about Johnny’s bewilderment and panic but instead he just makes grabby hands at Johnny’s legs.

Johnny stands and frantically grabs Mark’s discarded mask off the counter before tugging it back over his head so that it covers his hair and eyes once again, while leaving his nose and mouth free.

Mark frowns at the reminder of the mask and goes to rip it off again. He doesn’t want to be Spider-Man in his final moments, he wants to just be Mark. Johnny stops his movement and tightly holds both of Mark’s hands before turning his head to the side and shouting in the direction of the door.

“Someone help! Spider-Man needs help!”

Johnny’s voice cracks as he continuously yells for help. Mark wants to tell him that it’s okay, that the worst pain has passed, and Mark just felt numb now, which he considered a more peaceful death than others.

Mark gently tugs one hand from Johnny’s grip and raises it up to Johnny’s face wishing for the second time that night that there wasn’t a gloved barrier stopping him from fully holding Johnny’s face. Mark quickly retracts his hand when he realizes that he’s left a bloody handprint on Johnny’s cheek.

When Mark moves, Johnny momentarily halts his cries for help and looks back down towards him. He grabs Mark’s hand in his own once again and brings it back to his face seemingly uncaring of the gross blood trails Mark was leaving behind.

Johnny has tears streaming down his face and Mark yearns to wipe them all away. He’s never seen Johnny cry before. Johnny brings his hand to his forehead and presses a kiss to the back of it. “It’s okay Markie. You’re gonna be okay.”

Mark tries his best to smile and fights to keep his eyes open. He wasn’t done looking at Johnny yet.

Outside of Johnny’s face, Mark was slightly aware of multiple people running into the bathroom answering Johnny’s cries for help. Mark identifies the Police Chief’s wide eyes easily enough and when someone starts tugging at his collar, he tries to turn his head to tell them to leave him alone, that he really just wants everyone except Johnny to go away.

Mark has to blink multiple times for his eyes to focus but eventually he recognizes the assailant as the scientist that he’d spoken with at the lab before. She was speaking faster than Mark could process but he hears glimpses of her talking about his pulse and his heartrate. He briefly hears her yelling at others to hold him down and then feels his arms and legs quickly being restrained. Mark wants to fight them all off and curl up on his side but in the end, he only manages to squirm.

“Hey it’s okay. Just hold still baby.”

Johnny’s voice was soothing and easy to understand and Mark instantly relaxes. It should have been terrifying, just how quickly he reacts to the other’s request but in that moment, Mark would have done anything to halt the tears on Johnny’s face. Johnny tries to smile down at Mark and even though it’s watery and bitter Mark appreciates the effort.

Behind Johnny’s head Mark’s eyes suddenly focus on the scientist that had apparently moved and was now kneeling beside Johnny by Mark’s legs. He forces himself to focus on her movement and catches the action of a syringe being filled, similar in size to the one Doc Oc had stabbed him with earlier.

Mark doesn’t have enough time to protest as her arm suddenly comes down and slams the syringe into his thigh. The instant effect is different from Doc Oc’s injection in the sense that Mark’s body _burns_.

The comfort of numbness is now abandoned, and Mark feels a searing pain throughout his nerves. With the new adrenalin in his system Mark flails on the ground, harshly being held down by the multiple stranger’s arms.

Mark thinks that he’s screaming but he can’t stop. He’s never felt pain like this before. Throughout the hysteria he’s experiencing he can hear Johnny making constant shushing sounds and when the fight leaves Mark and the strangers hands leave his body, Johnny pulls him into his lap gently rocking him back and forth.

Mark can no longer keep his eyes open and he figures it’s okay to close them now. He could hear Johnny talking to the scientist about time and accuracy and arguing about an ambulance, but he blocks it out.

Johnny stubbornly pulls Mark closer to his chest and if Mark had the energy, he would nuzzle closer.

As Mark finally lets his eyes close, he feels Johnny press a kiss to the top of his head and whisper close to his ear, “You’re gonna be okay baby. I promise.”

And well, Johnny had never lied to Mark before.

Mark trusted him with his life, and he no longer felt like he was dying. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh my gosh guys this took sooo long and I am very sorry queue extremely long authors note!
> 
> First of all this story reached 1000 hits AND 100 kudos and I am so so grateful for the support <3  
> I absolutely adore your comments and reread them all multiple times when I was feeling particularly stuck on this chapter 
> 
> (also wow this chapter was long maybe when I finish this story and edit it i'll fix the pacing and the tiny lil plot holes that I know are there and am too scared to acknowledge)
> 
> Are you guys surprised that Johnny didnt know?? I had a few comments saying that they were thinking that he knew and I reread the chapters and reevaluated by life a little but honestly I always saw this Johnny as incredibly trusting and not scrutinizing things too harshly especially when it came to mark so in that sense I always saw him as having no idea
> 
> Also I had someone ask why I spelled it Doc Oc and not Doc Ock like in the comics and honestly that's because I didnt want actual spider-man fans searching and finding this LMAO i was always a batman fan and i uh didnt want spider-man fans finding and judging my extremely inaccurate portrayal 
> 
> ANYWAYS THANK YOU AGAIN GUYS FOR YOUR PATIENCE AND FOR STILL STICKING WITH THIS STORY <3
> 
> (also shoutout to twitter user yutasolodebut who responded to my random tweets and it seems small but it literally made me feel like someone was still reading this story and it really really motivated me) I am trying to be a more active twitter person 
> 
> hint hint
> 
> [find me on twitter :)](https://twitter.com/johyongsunny)
> 
> ps. sorry to any literary trained people that have to read through my frequent misuse of the comma

**Author's Note:**

> [this fic is entirely brought to you and inspired by this beautiful fanart created by this wonderful artist](https://twitter.com/PathPK26/status/1322577126630064130?s=20)


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